The 11th Day of the 11th Month

A Veteran's Day Update

Nov 11, 2024

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the Great War, that terrible catastrophic event that changed the face of western civilization, came to an end. It is the Armistice that ended that terrible war that was the origin of the date for Veteran’s Day.

Nowadays World War I seems almost forgotten by the public at large, almost no one of whom could tell you when it happened or who fought in it. But that is not true of the members of this mailing list, for whom military history is like bread and water. Indeed, many of you are makers of military history: The Autarch community has an exceptionally large percentage of active duty, reserve, and retired military personnel. To all of you I extend my gratitude today.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Now we must turn from such solemnities to other matters.

The ACKS II PDFs are Distributed and Files with the Printer

The ACKS II PDFs have been updated and distributed, and the files dispatched to the Printer. "My work here is done," I'd like to say; except of course that I was kept quite busy over the weekend sending PDFs to all the people that suffered an inexplicable deletion of the emails sent by DriveThruRPG with their downloads.

Alas, the work of the studio head/game designer/production manager/art director/head of customer service/entirety of customer service is never done. It is possible I might need to expand the team at some point, as I’m losing 20+ hours per week of design time to the mundane vagaries of running a business.

Backing the ACKS II Treasure Tome

Quite a few of you have mentioned that you cannot back ACKS II Treasure Tome because it lacks a PDF option. Never fear! I will see to it that such an option becomes available to you, either at a very late stage in the campaign or via BackerKit. You won't miss out. Right now, however, I'm about to launch an ad campaign with Jellop (the #1 KS marketing agency) and we need to have an entry-level tier that is sufficiently high-value enough that ads can be justified. But, again, I'm just attempting to leverage the lessons of algorithmic metrics to succeed, and I absolutely will make sure my loyal PDF pledgers get a crack at the book, too.

Treasure Tome Sneak Preview: Implements

For those of you awaiting the Treasure Tome with great anticipation, here's a sneak preview of six awesome implements of power...

LIGHTNING ROD
This 4’ rod was enchanted from the royal scepter of a titan king. Made of solid copper, the rod is roughly 1" across and weighs a full stone. When held, the rod renders its bearer and all those within 15’ resistant to mundane and extraordinary electrical damage, as the spell energy protection but affecting all those in an area. The voice of the person holding or carrying the rod booms like rolling thunder. He cannot whisper; if he casts a spell it is like a loud shout unless he possesses the Quiet Magic proficiency, in which case he can lower his voice to normal speaking volume.

ROD OF RUMINATION
Made of teak, this 3’ rod is carved at its crown with a circle of nine five-pointed stars. With a wave and a command word a charge can be expended from the rod to transform up to 9 living creatures of man size or smaller within 90’ into goats or cows, with those succeeding on a Spells saving throw resisting the effect. Victims will retain their prior hit point totals but otherwise assume the mental and physical characteristics of their new form. The effect persists for 9 turns or until dispelled.

STAFF OF BORROWED HEARTBEATS
This rosewood staff is stained a deep red, two rings of shark teeth circling its head, points opposite each other. The staff is capable of aiding the wounded in the short term, though at permanent long-term cost. When the staff is touched to a wounded creature and a command phrase is spoken (‘essema uctime’; ‘be harvested’ in Classical Auran) the target is healed for 4d6+10 points of damage. The target must then succeed on a Death saving throw or permanently lose 1d3 hit points. When the last charge is expended the staff will quickly wither and rot.

STAFF OF IRON TOOTH AND HIDE
This hickory staff is decorated with an iron cast of a wolf’s jaw, imbued with the ferocity of the beast and the strength of steel. The staff may be used to call a number of wolves, as the spell call of the wolf pack, or to make one wolf, dog, werewolf, or similar creature protected from weapons for 3 turns as the spell deflect ordinary weapons.

WAND OF BESTIAL FLIGHT
This wand is cut from the shaft of a roc’s pinion feather, patterns carefully inscribed in it and inlaid with silver. A charge can be expended from the wand to force a living creature within 90’ to succeed on an Implements save or be transformed mind, body and equipment to the form of a crow (speed 330’ fly, AC 1, HD ¼, #AT 1, Dmg 1d3-1).

The newly-formed bird is frightened by the transformation and flees from the user at its maximum speed for 3 turns. If starting outdoors the crow will travel 3 1/8 miles from its original location before its fear passes. The target will thereafter behave as normal for a crow, with the transformation lasting until dispelled, the wand is destroyed, or the target dies. Due to the difficulty in locating an individual crow after it has fled miles away, a target not immediately dispelled or calmed may end up forever trapped in its feathery form.

WAND OF BLOOD MAGIC
This oak wand is stained a dark red, a small pointed ruby set in its tip. Activating the wand and expending one charge will command the blood of a living target within 120’ to break free, causing the target to begin vomiting blood and suffer 1d12 extraordinary necrotic damage each round unless he succeeds on a Death saving throw, with an additional throw permitted each round to end the effect as the spell bloody flux. Expending two charges instead can fill the blood of a living target within 225’ with tremendous energy as the spell boil blood, extreme heat causing 5d8 extraordinary fire damage and stunning the victim unless he succeeds on a Blast saving throw, in which case he takes half damage and is not stunned. If he is boiled to below 0hp in either case the super-heated blood and the organs it has cooked will explode, killing him instantly and dealing 1d6 extraordinary fire damage to all within 5’ of him who do not succeed on a Blast saving throw. While blood is prone to volatility it can be made to reinforce with stronger magic. By expending three charges the user may strengthen his body as the spell trollblood, regenerating 3 damage at the start of his initiative for a turn and even being able to reattach limbs so long as they were separated after the effect began.

Although not directly related to the Treasure Tome, you might be interested in joining me tonight at 9PM Eastern Time on my livestream, ACKS To Grind, where I will be chatting with legendary sci-fi author John C Wright about space opera.

Are You a Patron of the ACKS Patreon?

Finally, if you're interested in "what's next" for ACKS II, members of the Patreon are getting monthly updates and sneak previews from Before All Others: The Cyclopedia of Elven Civilization. One of the best perks of being part of the Patreon is the opportunity to help shape the design process by seeing the earliest drafts. Those who've been with us for the long-term know that Autarch (me, really) listens intently to the community's playtest feedback.

If you've never checked out the ACKS Patreon, you can find it here. The recurring revenue from the Patreon is what sustains the business during the long spells between Kickstarters, especially in 2023-2024 when sales of ACKS I have dried up during the transition to ACKS II. In today's economy, with inflation making every dollar count, I am exceptionally grateful to everyone who chooses to allocate some of it each month to helping keep Autarch in action.

Support the Community

Once you’ve pledged for the crowdfunding campaign, head on over to these community links:

Arbiter of Worlds

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